A businessman with a nefarious reputation is found murdered on the pier of the port of Toga. There's a particular, striking detail: the victim's ears have been cut off.

A businessman with a nefarious reputation is found murdered on the pier of the port of Toga. There's a particular, striking detail: the victim's ears have been cut off. Chief Inspector Gabrielle Monti is in charge of the investigation, and it's her first case since her return to her hometown. It's a tough investigation, with aspects linking past and present. The victim was formerly suspected of blackmail and murder by Gabrielle's father, the judge Xavier Monti, with whom she has had a troubled relationship since her brother's death, thirty years previously.